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2012 Best Canadian Prepaid Mastercards and Prepaid Visa Cards

It's not quite 2012, but the financial world is usually a sleepy one over Christmas and New Years.

Here's the likely list for 2012. I'll be sure to update it if anything manages to change. I hope it does, but I must say that the options today are far better than they were a few years ago. It's a good time to be alive!   

TestDisk vs. NTFSTools for NTFS File Recovery

I just had an external hard drive, formatted NTFS, seem to fail in an unusual way.

The drive seemed to spin up fine and mount fine in Linux and Windows, but appeared blank.

2012 Best Currency Exchange Rates for Small, Medium & Large Amounts of Canadian Dollars

It's not quite 2012 yet, but I see the car dealers all have 2012 models out, so I think I'm allowed to play the same game too.

Equifax Canada Customer Service Number (Credit Reports)

Equifax is one of the two credit report bureaus in Canada. The other is TransUnion. There used to be a third, but they shut down their Canadian operations.

TransUnion Canada Credit Report Bureau Phone Number

Credit report bureaus are required by law to discuss your report with you if their report was used and you were denied or rejected credit when requesting a loan.    

I have absolutely no idea what kind of help they can offer over the phone, so if you're aware, please post a comment here.

Buy Cheap Campbell Biology 9th Edition Textbook


Buy Online and Save Money!


Most items on Amazon are tax-free, so you're almost always saving money even if the price is "the same"! Often the price is less, especially if you can buy used, rather than the ripoff used bookstore

Vehicle Transfer in Ontario through Ontario Driver and Vehicle Licensing Office: Hints and Tips.

I just bought a car, and I figured I'd write this article to help explain some of the things that I had a hard time finding an answer to, or being too confident in the information I had received.

Credit Union/Caisse Populaire Debit Mastercard: CUETS Global Payments Mastercard

Debit Mastercards have been around forever!

Since 1982, some credit unions in Saskatchewan have issued their own debit Mastercards.

Kitchener-Waterloo High Speed Internet Options (Bell, Rogers)

Most people think that there are only two internet options in most areas, usually something along the lines of "Rogers or Bell", but that's rarely true.

Two other, often far better options, available in all and some of KW respectively are:

Teksavvy

Etymotic ER-4P in Canada - BEST PRICE HERE

I should add that the price on Amazon seems to vary.

Kitchener Waterloo Driveclean E-Test Emissions Test @ Economylube

The economylube that I went to doesn't take appointments for e-tests,
they solely do it on a drop-in basis and quickly, which is a much better
way of doing things for me!
They are, however, big on upselling, so just be sure to know what you're
going there for and get just what you need and came in for.

Air Canada: Seat "GTE" on Ticket/Boarding Pass

Seat GTE Simple Answer

This means that Air Canada is going to assign you a seat at the gate, but it could mean a lot more than that.

TD Drivers Rewards Visa Card Review

This card will be replacing the GM Card that TD bank has discontinued.

BMO Prepaid Travel Mosaik Mastercard Review ("Prepaid Credit Card")

I consider the BMO Prepaid Travel Mosaik Mastercard to be the best reloadable prepaid card on the market.

Here's (mostly) why:

2011 Best Canadian Prepaid Mastercard, Visa and American Express Card Review

It's the start of 2011, and this will be a review of my top picks for the best prepaid cards for various purposes.

2010 Average Currency Exchange Rates - Canadian Dollar, US Dollar, Euros, for CRA Tax Returns

It's that time of the year again, tax time.

January 2012 Update: Here's a link to the rates for 2011 (ie: the rates you will probably use for your tax return due April 30th 2012)

Debit Visa / Visa Debit Problems (especially CIBC Advantage Debit Visa)

As of December 19th, things appear a lot better now, with reports of successful Paypal, Amazon.ca, iTunes and Ebay purchases, but still lots of people ending up on this page searching for problems with this card and Paypal.

Secured Credit Cards for Canadians: Who, What, Where, When & Why (and Sometimes How).

This is, what I consider to be, the most comprehensive and up-to-date article on secured credit cards for Canadians. The key thing is to do your research when dealing with any financial products, so I hope to help you with that here. After the 5 Ws, I go over each of the secured credit cards on the Canadian market. Please comment with any questions/concerns or anything that I've missed.

Prepaid Cards in Canada: Traditional and Incentive/Loyalty Cards

In Canada, prepaid cards are issued by banks under the Mastercard or Visa systems. This means that they're acceptable at any location that accepts credit cards, generally*.

Reloadable vs. Non-Reloadable (Throw-away)

£ UK Pound / Great Britain Pound Bank Accounts in Canada £

There aren't that many Canadian banks that provide UK Pound / GB Pound Bank Accounts.

You may also want to take a look at my EURO Bank Accounts for Canadians page as well.

Can I Get a Canadian Passport if I have a Criminal Record (or charged with one)?

More Readable Canadian Passports&Criminal Records Article!

Via Rail Wifi Free On-Train Internet: Actually Works Quite Well

I believe that Via rail has seriously upgraded its on-train wifi service.